Uzbekistan Country Overview
Where is Uzbekistan located? The landlocked country of Uzbekistan is located in Central Asia. Uzbekistan is a former part of the Soviet Union but became independent in 1991. On the time zone map, Uzbekistan is assigned to a world time zone called “Uzbekistan Time” with a time offset of +5 hours to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). This difference to the world clock remains the same throughout the year, since Uzbekistan does not usually make the change to daylight saving time.
Bordering Countries of Uzbekistan
According to abbreviationfinder, Uzbekistan is a Central Asian country located in the heart of the continent, bordered by five other countries. To the north lies Kazakhstan, while to the south lies Afghanistan. Further east is Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, while to the west lies Kyrgyzstan.
The Uzbek-Kazakh border has been a site of great cultural exchange due to its strategic location in Central Asia. This has led to strong cultural ties between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan as well as strong political cooperation in recent years. In addition, Uzbekistan also has strong economic ties with its bordering countries due to its thriving agricultural industry which have attracted foreign investment.
The relationship between Uzbekistan and its neighbours is complex but largely peaceful despite occasional disputes over matters such as energy resources or border issues. In recent years there have been efforts by both sides to improve relations as well as increased trade between them for mutual benefit. For example, Uzbekistan has signed several free trade agreements with neighbouring countries that have helped boost economic growth in both nations. Furthermore, there have been efforts by all sides to promote regional stability through joint military exercises or peacekeeping operations in conflict zones such as Tajikistan or Turkmenistan.
Population Distribution
As of 2023, the latest population of Uzbekistan is 30,565,411, based on our calculation of the current data from UN (United Nations).
| Total population | 30,565,411 |
| Population growth rate | 0.88% |
| Birth rate | 16.80 births per 1,000 people |
| Life expectancy | |
| Overall life expectancy | 73.03 years |
| Men life expectancy | 70.00 years |
| Women life expectancy | 76.25 years |
| Age structure | |
| 0-14 years | 23.61% |
| 15-64 years | 70.95% |
| 65 years and above | 5.44% |
| Median age | 27.60 years |
| Gender ratio (Male to Female) | 0.99 |
| Population density | 68.32 residents per km² |
| Urbanization | 36.60% |
| Ethnicities | |
| 74% Uzbeks, 6% Russians, 5% Tajiks, 4% Kazakhs, 2% Crimean Tatars, 2% Karakalpaks, 1% Koreans and others | |
| Religions | |
| Muslim 88% (mainly Sunnis), Orthodox 9%, members of other religions 3% | |
| Human Development Index (HDI) | 0.710 |
| HDI ranking | 108th out of 194 |
People in Uzbekistan
33 million people live in Uzbekistan. Most of the residents live in the east of the country, in the fertile Ferghana Valley. There are also the three largest cities in the country after Tashkent: Namangan, Andijon and Fargʻona. A total of 50 out of 100 residents live in a city. So the majority live in the country. On average, each woman has 1.7 children.
Most of the residents are Uzbeks with 71 percent. In total, around one hundred peoples live in the country. The next largest groups are Russians and Tajiks, each with 5 percent, followed by Karakalpaks, Kazakhs, Tatars and Koreans (who are called Korjo-Saram here). Small minorities are Turkmens, Uyghurs, Volga Germans, Armenians, Meshetes, Azerbaijanis and Kurds.
Who are the caracalpaks?
The Karakalpaks are a Turkic people. They live mainly in the west of Uzbekistan, in Karakalpakistan. It is an autonomous republic within Uzbekistan. There the caracalpaks make up about a third of the population. The rest are Uzbeks, Kazakhs and other ethnic groups. Some caracalpaks are demanding independence from Uzbekistan. Nukus is the capital. The people are named after the kalpak, a fur hat that men wear.
Languages in Uzbekistan
There are two official languages in Uzbekistan: Uzbek and Karakalpakistan also Karakalpakish. Because most of the residents are Uzbeks, Uzbek is the native language of most of the people. Russian is still very important and is used for communication between different peoples, but is also used in education and business. Tajik, a variant of Persian, is spoken mainly in Samarkand and Bukhara.
Uzbek
Uzbek is one of the Turkic languages. There are several dialects. Originally, that is, until 1923, Uzbek was written in Arabic letters. In the Soviet period, i.e. until 1991, Uzbek was then written in Cyrillic, expanded to include phonetic symbols for Uzbek. This was followed by the change to Latin letters (in which you also write). In fact, both alphabets are still in use.
Because there is not a letter in the Latin alphabet for all Uzbek sounds, characters have been introduced to represent them. These include gʻ and oʻ, which you may have already seen in city names, for example in Qoʻqon.
Religions in Uzbekistan
The vast majority of Uzbeks belong to Islam (89 percent). 8 percent are Russian Orthodox Christians. They are mostly Russians. Small minorities are Catholics, Protestants, Buddhists and Jews. Religious freedom is guaranteed by law, but Uzbek Christians often see themselves disadvantaged.